Judy eBook

Some one stood in the bow, straight and strong and
young, and as Judy watched in a half-dream, she remembered
an opera she had seen once upon a time; where a knight
in silver armor had come on the back of a silver swan
to the lady he loved. She had hoped, mistily,
that when she was old enough for such things, that
Love might come to her like that—­over the
sea in silver armor, and sail away with her in a silver
boat to the end of the world!

The boat came nearer, the boat with the silver sails!
She stood up to watch, and as her slim figure was
etched sharply against the background of white sand,
there came to her upon the wings of the night the cry—­

“Judy!”

Her hand went to her heart. Was it real?
Where did he come from, that youth in the silver
boat. But even as she wondered, the cry went
back to him, an answering cry, joyous, welcoming—­

“Launcelot, oh, Launcelot.”

CHAPTER XXIV

“HOME IS THE SAILOR FROM THE SEA”

Judy’s cry did not wake Tommy, and still in
a half-dream she went down to the edge of the water
and stood ghost-like in the moonlight, waiting.
There was another figure in the boat, half-hidden
by the shadowy sails, but it was Launcelot who, when
the shallow water was reached, jumped out and waded
to shore.

“Judy, Judy,” he said, as he came up to
her, “I knew I should find you.”

She looked at him with wide eyes. “Where—­where
did you come from,” she whispered, while her
white hands fluttered across his coat sleeve as if
to see that he was real.

There was sympathy and tenderness in his boyish face,
but seeing her condition, he spoke cheerfully.
“I came down to The Breakers after Tommy.
His mother was ill, and his father had to stay with
her, so they sent me. And when I got there I
found Anne and—­and—­” he
checked himself hurriedly, “I found Anne almost
frantic because you had gone, and then when she found
your note I started out, for I knew I should find
you, Judy. I knew I should sail straight to you.”

For one little moment as they stood together in the
moonlight, he looked down at her with the eyes of
the lover he was to be, but as yet they were only
boy and girl and the moment passed.

“Where’s Tommy?” asked Launcelot,
coming out of his dream.

He was answered by a shout as Tommy came plunging
over the sand.

“Why didn’t you wake me, Judy?”
he complained, bitterly, “when you first saw
the boat.”